Tuesday, July 3, 2018

No Place For This In Sports

While we've all been wrapped up in the World Cup, qualifying for next year's Basketball World Cup is well underway.  This is the first time FIBA is using a qualifying system similar to the one FIFA uses where certain dates are blocked out each national team gets to play home games during qualifying.  Well, anyway, there was an Asian qualifier between Australia and the Philippines yesterday that descended into pure chaos.

If you haven't heard about it, there was an all-out brawl in the third quarter that left the Philippines with just three players.  The video is disturbing.  Mainly because what happened is completely disgusting.  Regardless of the reason for the fight and how/why it escalated, the behavior of the Filipino players during and especially afterwards is completely reprehensible.  See for yourself below:


Like I said, disturbing.  And I think the Australian TV commentators summed up the feelings we all had.  There's absolutely no place for any of that in sports.

For their part, the Australians acknowledged their role and expressed regret.  And, frankly, I don't think Australia was out of control at all.  Sure No. 7 (who happens to play for the Milwaukee Bucks) went over-the-top.  But all of their actions were in the heat of the moment.  And they showed a certain degree of restraint, too.

I wish I could say the Filipino team showed the same restraint.  But you can plainly see about four guys jumping over those boards in front of the bench just so they could join in, and they promptly threw haymakers.  Then it continued off the court.  Somebody threw a chair at one of the Aussies.  A freakin' chair!  That's assault!  Thank God he wasn't injured.

The game was in Manila, which only made matters worse.  Because the fans were loving every minute of it.  They were egging the players on and cheering this absolutely grotesque display.  They high-fived the ejected players as they went to the locker room.  That's not even the worst part, though.  Want to know how badly the Filipino players just ignored the ideas of sportsmanship and decorum?  They were laughing and smiling while posing for selfies with fans on the court as the officials tried to sort out this mess.

But did the Philippines show any sense of remorse for their behavior?  Of course not!  The head coach and the country's president released statements apologizing for the incident, but somebody from their basketball federation didn't think they had done anything wrong at all.  In his statement, he actually said he was "proud of the way our boys stood their ground."  Is he serious?!  That's nearly as embarrassing as the brawl itself.

When FIBA moved the date of the World Cup (which until this year was always in the same year as soccer's) and changed the qualifying process, one of the reasons they gave was because teams didn't get to play home games and have a true home court advantage.  Well, FIBA, you got what you wanted.  And this ugly incident was the result.

FIBA has already started the disciplinary process, and they've got their work cut out for them.  Because simply suspending players isn't enough.  There needs to be a clear message sent that this is completely unacceptable.  And that message needs to be a strong one.

Australia isn't blameless.  The four players involved should be suspended, with the guy from the Bucks receiving several games.  And I'm sure the federation will be fined, too.  But that should be the extent of the punishment for the Aussies.  They were embarrassed by their role in the fight and showed genuine regret about it.

There needs to be severe penalties for the Philippines, though.  And not just for the nine players who thought they were Manny Pacquiao.  The federation needs to be held accountable for the incident and its behavior afterwards.  Because, ultimately, the Filipino Basketball Federation is responsible for the reprehensible conduct of both its players and its fans.

Here's what I would do.  The Philippines is disqualified from the tournament.  They'd already advanced to the next round (as had Australia), but they must forfeit their remaining games.  With the number of lengthy suspensions their players are going to receive, they wouldn't have anybody left to play those games anyway.  There's more though.  I'd also disqualify them from Olympic qualifying.  If you think that doesn't sound like that big a deal, keep in mind the Philippines hosted one of the three final qualifying tournaments for the Rio Games.

Speaking of hosting games, they're not allowed to do that for a while, either.  This doesn't get anywhere near as out of hand if not for the fans, whose behavior was just as deplorable (the chair wasn't thrown by a player).  So, the Philippines also has to play a certain number of home games, whatever number that is, at a neutral site.  That's something FIFA does all the time, so there's a precedent for it.  And it's the only appropriate thing to do.  Because simply fining the federation isn't nearly enough.

What happened in Manila between Australia and the Philippines was regrettable in every sense of the word.  FIBA needs to make it clear that scenes like this are unacceptable.  And coming down hard on the Philippines is the only way to do that.

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